What I'm reading Wednesday...

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer, Ph.D.

Labyrinth is on my 2013 reading challenge list, and slow going.  This morning I saw the One Small Step lying on a table top and picked it up to browse through. 

Just now, when I took the photos, I realized the similarities in the covers.  Hmmm...a labyrinth and a maze. I wonder what my subconscious is brooding about.  :)

Today is Tuesday...

...and I am making napkin rings out of toilet paper tubes and duct tape.  Kind of redneck, I know.

We use cloth napkins at our house, and with the recent influx of family members at the table we have been having a lot of napkin laundry.  The cure I learned from the other Kathleen is to have an identifiable napkin ring for each diner, so that if their napkin is barely used they can keep it on the table for the next meal. 

I don't have a variety of napkin rings, so since they are needed quickly and only temporarily, this solution popped into my head.  I was just going to use the cardboard tubes, but wasn't sure they could survive a month's worth of use.

Bon appetit, y'all!

2013 goals, August progress...

It's been awhile since I've updated my list.  I've been pretty busy actually doing some of them!  For brevity, I have deleted some of the goals which were miserable fails.  :) 

PERSONAL MONTHLY GOALS

• Turn computer off by 9:00 pm on work nights
• not doing well at this, but I did have a sleep study and get a CPAP, so I am getting more and better rest
• Get back to a more Paleo eating plan
• woohoo!  Paleo daughter moved in and is doing all the cooking!  :)
• Take my lunch to work twice a week
• pretty hit and miss
• Walk for fifteen minutes 15 times a month
• moved the treadmill into the living room...does that count a little bit?
• blog 20 times a month
• 9 / 20
• have one or more of the kidlets overnight once a month
• easy peasy (stay tuned for next month's stats!)

PERSONAL ANNUAL GOALS

• Lose 25 pounds
• ummm...the year's not over yet...I've still got time, right?
• Organize home office / craft room
• ...sort of...I ended up just moving a lot of stuff out of there so there was room for daughter and son-in-law to live in it for a month or so
• Organize photos
• well, they are not in albums yet, but thanks to daughter, we have them semi organized...which means they are all in one place and in uniform storage boxes.
• Paint cabinets in guest powder room
• not yet
• Reorganize laundry room
• not yet
• Paint laundry room cabinets
• not yet
• Build / finish the garage apartment
• Done!   Yea!!!
• Complete the 2013 Reading Challenge
• presently on book number 10 of 12 from the challenge list, and have read 16 others...way down from last year, but my schedule has changed drastically, so...

GIVING GOALS (for the year)

• Knit 12 hats to donate
• Donate 12 boxfuls of household goods / clothes to Goodwill
• I quit counting...I think we can count this one fulfilled!
• Donate 12 books to the library
• 19 / 12
• Donate to two good causes
• fulfilled

FINANCIAL GOALS (for the year)

• Be more deliberately mindful of finances
• I am mindful that we have spent a LOT on construction...now back to SAVING mode
• Contribute maximum to our IRAs
• Carey's, yes...mine, not yet
• Add $100 to each of the five college funds
• Price / plan future kitchen remodel
• in progress (and will be for a LONG time)

CREATIVE GOALS (for the year)

• Hand quilt Rita May's quilt top
• Make 52 cards 40 / 52
• Knit 6 dishcloths 4 / 6
• Sew 2 hot pads 1/2
• Knit 1 cowl
• Make 6 Pinterest projects   6 / 6

Full house...

  vs

So the kids got moved into our house yesterday.  They are hoping it will only be for a month or so.  Tomorrow is the closing on the house they just sold, but on the new house front, the bank has been very slow acting getting things moving.  

They didn't even sit down for a minute before they started preparing dinner for us.  Carey's birthday is this coming week, but he will be working out of town, so they wanted to celebrate his BIG birthday while he is home.

The girls were running around in their dress-up clothes, when daddy appropriated the toque and apron Chloe was wearing.  Goofball.  I told him I would be blogging his photo...so he made up his own caption.  He makes points for his off-the-cuff play on words...and he and Kasey make MAJOR points for producing a meal WAY better than anything that could come out of a can.

The children were fed before the grown ups, when one of them got up from the table to perform a spontaneous gymnastics maneuver.  

     Daddy (still wearing his chef garb), "Is it dinner time or                      gymnastics time?

     Caitlyn, "Is it dinner time or dress-up time?

Score one for the munchkins.

Today is Tuesday, and I am...

...mailing.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

The Son by Philipp Meyer

I've been wanting to read this since I heard it reviewed on the radio.  I happened to log onto my public library website the other day, and saw that it was available to reserve with only one ahead of me on the list.  I reserved it, and was emailed within just a few days that it was ready for check out.

After that last book took me nearly a month to finish, I thought I was losing my reading mojo.  But it all came back to me...I finished all 650 pages of this one in one weekend.  The historic aspect was very interesting, as it is set in the area where I live, but I was left feeling pretty unsatisfied since none of the characters were very likable.

The Time Between by Karen White

While I was at the library, I picked up this one as well.  I had seen it on Amazon and thought about getting it, and probably would have, but didn't want to pay full price.  So I was pretty happy to see it available on the 'new' shelf in the library...love borrowing for free.  :)  I just started it, so I'm not sure how it's going yet.

Pet peeves revisited...

Time for another pet-peeve list.  Sorry, but I need to get it out of my system.  I'll keep it short, because it is late, and because the majority make me sound like a cranky old fogy.

It grates on my last nerve...

...when someone stands up and walks away from their chair without pushing it under the table or desk.

....when contemporary users take perfectly good words, and change them to suit their whim when it could have been used perfectly well without change.  ie: securitization?

...when drivers cross all lanes when making a turn instead of turning into the nearest lane.

...when someone prepares a sandwich or a bowl of cereal and leaves crumbs or grains of sugar all over the counter.

...when someone constantly interrupts others when they are speaking.

...when anyone moves my stuff!  Yes, I like ALL of my pencils in one cup, ALL of my pens in another cup, and ALL of my markers in a third cup.  Hey, I don't come over to your desk and co-mingle all of your stuff!

...when I compose an email or a comment, and accidentally delete it right before I finish...and then I re-type it and accidentally delete it again! 

Okay, that's enough.  I'll feel better.  Thanks!